Weird water noise-- I searched!
 

Hey guys,

I was hoping for a little advice here. Unfortunately, I was forced to park my 7 for the past few months. After replacing the alternator and getting a new battery, I was pretty excited to get her back out on the road. The crappy part is that she was parked outside through a lot of winter rain. When I took her out, I heard a lot of water swishing around. Not only was it annoying, but it was VERY concerning.

I took out the back carpet and upon inspection noticed a build up of water in the spare tire compartment. I was relived thinking that was the problem. Drained the water, cleaned it up...but the noise is still there. Investigating even further, I found that the insulation under the storage bins and the rear carpet were all soaked. Now I was very worried. With some help, I pulled the seats out and pulled up the carpet. Everything was pretty wet so I pulled it all out and the car is drying. I'm going to get new insulation before I put everything back in...of course, once everything is dry! I'm so happy I found this problem before it got worse. However, there's still a sloshing noise...like there's still water some place else. It's coming from the rear end....right side it sounds like...and I'm out of ideas where to look. My friend says it could be my gas, which is possible, but I've NEVER heard my gas before and it seems a bit mysterious that the noise just happens to be there after this bad experience with rain water.

Any ideas of where else to look for this mysterious water or could it really be my gas tank just swishing around (but it's really loud). I've no idea...I'm just kind of sad right now cuz my poor car is torn all apart on the inside. I took pics.... I may post them later. I don't know.

Thanks for reading, thanks for listening, thanks for your help!

You guys are the best!

Take care,
Tammie

Man I'm glad I don't live in California, sounds like the rains are horendous out there. I'd look for the water, it's going to settle to the lowest point, get it out of there, dry stuff up, wire brush and sand back to metal and paint it.

That's the best I can do, but I am looking forward to your pics of the slosh.

Ray

Check the drain tubes in your rear hatch and your sunroof (if you have one). I run a coat hanger thru them every once in a while to get any leaves and junks out. I've heard the connecting hoses can come off so Im always pretty gentle with the hanger. After you get them clean pour some water thru and you should see it come out the drain (little black vents for the sunroof and i think the back drains near the rear fenders).

Tammie:
Water sloshing still? did you check the rear fenders? there is a drain plug for each of them underneath on the INNER facing panel of each rear fender, ie facing in towards the fuel tank. If water got everywhere else then it is in there too! Make sure you leave the plugs off for a while and leave the hatch open and get it to dry thoroughly!! Hair dryer on low will help! major rust zone so this is important :) Hatch drains come out under rear bumper, one on each side. MAKE SURE THE HOSES ARE CONNECTED TO THE HATCH FRAME NIPPLES (can I say that to a girl?) INSIDE THE CAR!!! otherwise the water will just flow directly into the car. Either way, the hoses pull out easily and you should do so and thoroughly clean them out if you can't get them unplugged with the hanger wire. I actually use pipe-cleaners (as in cleaners to clean smoking pipes) since they are finer and more flexible. Coat hangers are pretty stiff and you do not want to damage the drain hose, SEPECIALLY the sunroof hoses, since they are VERY hard to get at to replace! And do yourself a favor and get a decent car cover for winter storage. CoverCraft makes a decent one for about $140 (cheapie $40 ones will not last a season!!). I also store mine outside all winter and it is as dry as a bone each spring. With it in place all the winter wet snow and crap falling off trees for months etc on your car won't be plugging you up again!!
Good luck!
Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

use a weedwacker line. works the best!!!

Just to add to things to check. If you have a sunroof, the forward tubes go down the A-pillar and come forward of the hinges and behind the fender and plastic inner liner. The 2 rear sunroof drains exit out the plastic vents on the B-pillar next to the rear 1/4 glass.

If all of the drain tubes are connected and flowing well, check the rubber gaskets for the sunroof, hatch glass and the doors.

all mentioned are great suggestions!!! do you know how the water is getting in the car in the first place??? that would be a big concern if the car were mine

I was always wondering what those vents were actually for.

Thanks so much for all the suggestions! I'm going back over to work on her today (she's in the garage at dad's house...). I will definitely let you know what happens!

I did clean the tubes in the hatch and that was definitely the problem...they were totally clogged.

I'm feeling hopeful!

You guys are the BEST!!! :D

Tammie

I have the same problem. but it only leaks on the passenger side. so from what ive read it should be the front hole on the sunroof that is clogged or broken. woot now im gonna go look and test.